1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of business integration language specified program debugging and more particularly to breakpoint management in a business integration language specified program debugging environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The achievement of universal interoperability between applications by using Web standards remains the principal goal of Web Services. Web Services use a loosely coupled integration model to allow flexible integration of heterogeneous systems in a variety of domains including business-to-consumer, business-to-business and enterprise application integration. The following basic specifications originally defined the Web Services space: the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), the Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI). SOAP defines an XML messaging protocol for basic service interoperability. WSDL introduces a common grammar for describing services. UDDI provides the infrastructure required to publish and discover services in a systematic way. Together, these specifications allow applications to find each other and interact following a loosely coupled, platform-independent model.
Presently, the interaction model that is directly supported by WSDL essentially can be viewed as a stateless model of synchronous or uncorrelated asynchronous interactions. Models for process interactions typically assume sequences of peer-to-peer message exchanges, both synchronous and asynchronous, within stateful, long-running interactions involving two or more parties. Nevertheless, systems integration requires more than the mere ability to conduct simple interactions by using standard protocols. The full potential of Web Services as an integration platform will be achieved only when applications and processes are able to integrate their complex interactions by using a standard process integration model.
Business integration languages such as the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) fulfills some aspects of a standard process integration model. The BPEL for Web Services specification defines a technology for integrating cross-enterprise business processes. By coordinating stateful interactions of loosely coupled services across enterprise boundaries, BPEL technology provides a means of modeling the interactions between an enterprise and its business partners, suppliers and customers and thus the value chain of the enterprise.
Business integration languages like BPEL provide a language for the formal specification of business processes and business interaction protocols. By doing so, BPEL for Web Services extends the Web Services interaction model and enables the model to support business transactions. The basic concepts of BPEL can be applied in one of two ways. A BPEL specified process can define a business protocol role, using the notion of an abstract process. The relationship between two or more business protocol roles can be modeled as a partner link. Second, it is also possible to use BPEL to define an executable business process. In an executable business process, the logic and state of the process determine the nature and sequence of the Web Service interactions conducted at each business partner, and thus the interaction protocols.
Business integration languages such as BPEL often allow a script such as a Java script to be invoked within an activity defined within a business integration language specified program. Yet, when implemented, the script need not necessarily be defined in a separate file that can be accessed by debug tooling. For example, in the case of a Java script, though embedded in the business integration language specified document, the actual resulting Java class can be defined at runtime only in the form of a backing class (on the server side). In this case, the debugger can neither set nor enforce a breakpoint in the resulting backing class prior to runtime. Accordingly, one of the most fundamental utilities in the debugging environment cannot be applied when debugging aspects of a business integration language specified program.